Poor sky picture/signal quality
Discussion
I know tis has been done before, and I've even contributed to one, but I'm at a dead-end.
On some channels, History (529) and some of those in the upper 100/early 200 ranges, I get poor picture quality. Same if I use the interactive channels (BBC and Sky). It's blocky and digitally-noisy.
I've been up the ladder this morning to check the dish and have wiggled it around to achieve the best signal strength and signal quality I can, but the best I could get is what I already had (100% signal strength and about 75% signal quality).
I called Sky's un-helpdesk (obviously in India despite me apparently talking to "Sue") who ignored all my claims of testing and my observations, and simply advised me to reboot (yawn).
I asked whether Sky has a higher gain dish/LNB or simply a larger dish (same thing probably) but could get no technical advice other than "all our customers use the standard one". She did offer the correct angle but was mystified when I asked for the inclination (is that the same as the azimuth or is that the angle of the LNB relative to the dish?). I know that was a technical question but given that it's their business to provide a signal from a satellite I didn't think it was overtly technical.
Anyway, can the sage members of PH offer any picture improvement advice? I suspect I need more gain. There are other Sky receivers in my road. Only about half of them use the same dish as mine (the "seive" version). I'm sure the guy opposite has a different one, slightly larger. Would it help if I simply replace the dish for a larger one, keeping the same LNB and angles?
On some channels, History (529) and some of those in the upper 100/early 200 ranges, I get poor picture quality. Same if I use the interactive channels (BBC and Sky). It's blocky and digitally-noisy.
I've been up the ladder this morning to check the dish and have wiggled it around to achieve the best signal strength and signal quality I can, but the best I could get is what I already had (100% signal strength and about 75% signal quality).
I called Sky's un-helpdesk (obviously in India despite me apparently talking to "Sue") who ignored all my claims of testing and my observations, and simply advised me to reboot (yawn).
I asked whether Sky has a higher gain dish/LNB or simply a larger dish (same thing probably) but could get no technical advice other than "all our customers use the standard one". She did offer the correct angle but was mystified when I asked for the inclination (is that the same as the azimuth or is that the angle of the LNB relative to the dish?). I know that was a technical question but given that it's their business to provide a signal from a satellite I didn't think it was overtly technical.
Anyway, can the sage members of PH offer any picture improvement advice? I suspect I need more gain. There are other Sky receivers in my road. Only about half of them use the same dish as mine (the "seive" version). I'm sure the guy opposite has a different one, slightly larger. Would it help if I simply replace the dish for a larger one, keeping the same LNB and angles?
Where the F-Connectors connect to the LNB on the end of the dish arm, how are they waterproofed? Properly or with a bit of insulation tape?
Water in the coaxial at the head end is usually responsible as the foam dielectric gets wet and it causes a short.
For a better explanation of angles etc, have a conversation with your local satellite fitter rather than a Sky CS monkey.
Water in the coaxial at the head end is usually responsible as the foam dielectric gets wet and it causes a short.
For a better explanation of angles etc, have a conversation with your local satellite fitter rather than a Sky CS monkey.
Plotloss said:
Where the F-Connectors connect to the LNB on the end of the dish arm, how are they waterproofed? Properly or with a bit of insulation tape?
Water in the coaxial at the head end is usually responsible as the foam dielectric gets wet and it causes a short.
For a better explanation of angles etc, have a conversation with your local satellite fitter rather than a Sky CS monkey.
It's all waterproofed properly with heatshrink - it's the sort with the glue inside to offer better water rejection and to hold it all together more firmly.Water in the coaxial at the head end is usually responsible as the foam dielectric gets wet and it causes a short.
For a better explanation of angles etc, have a conversation with your local satellite fitter rather than a Sky CS monkey.
I installed it myself using quality low-loss satellite cable.
I actually knew the bearing and inclination already but as she offered the bearing I thought I'd double check the inclination.
This isn't a problem were I have a terribly poor picture. It's just not 100% on some channels and with interactive TV. It could be better and I reckon the problem is nothing more than slightly low gain. The dish "points" at clear sky between houses slightly higher than ours. I wonder whether this has any influence... I'm convinced a higher gain dish/LNB would cure it but don't know whether you can simply partner any dish with any LNB. A dish is cheap so I might just have a go... if I can get a recommendation.
Where are you (Mars?) Unless your way up north then a standard Sky dish will be fine. The only way to align a dish properly is with a meter connected locally to the LNB, you can get a cheap 'screamer' meter from Maplins or similar which will help.
Usually a poor signal results in the pictures freezing and pixelating, is this what is happening.
Remember a lot of the channels available via the Sky platform are poor quality anyway.
Usually a poor signal results in the pictures freezing and pixelating, is this what is happening.
Remember a lot of the channels available via the Sky platform are poor quality anyway.
Weird one to try - I was having some picture problems on some channels too, and the guy @ Sky asked if I had a cordless phone located anywhere near the box. I did, so he said move the phone.
Once I moved the phone to the other side of the room the picture on the dodgy channels (always the same channels - Ch4+1 was one of them) improved and stayed improved.
Once I moved the phone to the other side of the room the picture on the dodgy channels (always the same channels - Ch4+1 was one of them) improved and stayed improved.
agreen said:
Mars
I work for a sky fitting company at the moment and I may be able to help you out. I do not work in the technical department but I will ask someone who does or one of the fitters and see if they can suggest something that will help.
Alex
Thanks. Any info would be useful.I work for a sky fitting company at the moment and I may be able to help you out. I do not work in the technical department but I will ask someone who does or one of the fitters and see if they can suggest something that will help.
Alex
cjs said:
Where are you (Mars?) Unless your way up north then a standard Sky dish will be fine. The only way to align a dish properly is with a meter connected locally to the LNB, you can get a cheap 'screamer' meter from Maplins or similar which will help.
Usually a poor signal results in the pictures freezing and pixelating, is this what is happening.
Remember a lot of the channels available via the Sky platform are poor quality anyway.
I'm in the Midlands which means I "technically" shouldn't need anything special WRT a dish.Usually a poor signal results in the pictures freezing and pixelating, is this what is happening.
Remember a lot of the channels available via the Sky platform are poor quality anyway.
I noted in today's little experiment that my signal strength meter (as displayed by the box itself) actually registered very small increments in both the horixontal and vertical movements. I left it on 100%.
What does "signal quality" mean in this context? How is it measured?
Also, when you say some channels are poor quality already, what do you mean? Can you confirm how good your History channel is (129 and 130) please? If I use the on-screen info, the actual broadcast programme becomes very poor indicating (to me) that there isn't enough bandwidth to cope with the programme and the info.
oobster said:
Weird one to try - I was having some picture problems on some channels too, and the guy @ Sky asked if I had a cordless phone located anywhere near the box. I did, so he said move the phone.
Once I moved the phone to the other side of the room the picture on the dodgy channels (always the same channels - Ch4+1 was one of them) improved and stayed improved.
They asked me the same question. Our cordless phone is already in a different room.Once I moved the phone to the other side of the room the picture on the dodgy channels (always the same channels - Ch4+1 was one of them) improved and stayed improved.
Tony*T3 said:
Any 'line of sight' issues? Trees or powerlines etc?
There are houses at a higher elevation from our house in the path, but not *quite* so high as to be within the line of sight. Also, the two houses are slightly either side of the "path" too.There are trees nearby, but again not quite in line of sight (I checked before installing the dish there).
Besides all this, we have (according to our box) 100% signal strength. It's just the signal quality which is at about 75%.
Also most of our channels are 100% perfect. It's just a few which are poor, and especially any interactive viewing which is pixellated to watch and "chirpy" to listen to. This is particularly irritating as my wife wishes to watch the various output for the Olympics.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm very tempted to see if I can uy a dish supposed to be used "in the North" to see if there's any difference.
Seems to me your LNB is on its way out. The signal strength meter on your Sky box only measures the strength at one particular frequency and polarisation.
The horizontal channels may be fine and the vertical channels a bit weak (or the other way around). Buy a new one from Maplins and if it's still the same you can always return it.
ETA This also overloads the processing capability on some older boxes.
The horizontal channels may be fine and the vertical channels a bit weak (or the other way around). Buy a new one from Maplins and if it's still the same you can always return it.
ETA This also overloads the processing capability on some older boxes.
Edited by V8A*ndy on Monday 11th August 21:44
When you lose signal try the following
Go into Services from your remote.
Press 4 0 1 Select
It should take you onto the 'hidden' installer menu.
Choose option 1 for LNB setup.
Go down and turn off the LNB power supply, and the 22KHz command
Save the settings. This will reset the LNB.
Then go back into LNB setup and turn them both back on, and save the settings.
You can then exit the menu.
I've got a similar problem with my Sky setup, where certain channels pixelate, or even freeze and produce a little white noise. It's probably some water ingress into the LNB, but I can't be bothered changing it.
Go into Services from your remote.
Press 4 0 1 Select
It should take you onto the 'hidden' installer menu.
Choose option 1 for LNB setup.
Go down and turn off the LNB power supply, and the 22KHz command
Save the settings. This will reset the LNB.
Then go back into LNB setup and turn them both back on, and save the settings.
You can then exit the menu.
I've got a similar problem with my Sky setup, where certain channels pixelate, or even freeze and produce a little white noise. It's probably some water ingress into the LNB, but I can't be bothered changing it.
convert said:
When you lose signal try the following
Go into Services from your remote.
Press 4 0 1 Select
It should take you onto the 'hidden' installer menu.
Choose option 1 for LNB setup.
Go down and turn off the LNB power supply, and the 22KHz command
Save the settings. This will reset the LNB.
Then go back into LNB setup and turn them both back on, and save the settings.
You can then exit the menu.
I've got a similar problem with my Sky setup, where certain channels pixelate, or even freeze and produce a little white noise. It's probably some water ingress into the LNB, but I can't be bothered changing it.
I'll have a go and let you know if it's improved things.Go into Services from your remote.
Press 4 0 1 Select
It should take you onto the 'hidden' installer menu.
Choose option 1 for LNB setup.
Go down and turn off the LNB power supply, and the 22KHz command
Save the settings. This will reset the LNB.
Then go back into LNB setup and turn them both back on, and save the settings.
You can then exit the menu.
I've got a similar problem with my Sky setup, where certain channels pixelate, or even freeze and produce a little white noise. It's probably some water ingress into the LNB, but I can't be bothered changing it.
When I was up the ladder earlier I noted that the LNB was perfectly dry and displayed no signs of there being a water-ingress issue.
I spoke to some of the engineers at work yesterday and they suggested that you may have signal strength of 100% and quality of 75% but the 75% would only be measured on one LNB frequency/feed, so all the others might be considerably lower than that figure - thus offering a potential reason for the lack of channels. What sort of LNB do you have installed, is it standard or is it an LNB that supports sky plus? If you were in the South East I could have offered the assistance of one of our fitters on the way back from a job to look at it but obviously as you are in the Midlands that is a good distance away from where we operate. If you are still stuck PM me with what area of the midlands you are in and I will send you the contact details for reputable installers in your area if that would help.
I replaced my (sky installed) single LNB with a Quad LNB a couple of months back when i bought one of the new Sky+ boxes.
The signal used to go in heavy rain etc, now it's perfect with 100% on both aerials.
It didn't help that the sky LNB could flap around on the arm meaning it didn't stay at the right angle, whereas the new one is nice and snug.
The signal used to go in heavy rain etc, now it's perfect with 100% on both aerials.
It didn't help that the sky LNB could flap around on the arm meaning it didn't stay at the right angle, whereas the new one is nice and snug.
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